Coned yarn support



DC. 14, 1954 E G BEER CONED YARN SUPPORT Filed April 2l United States Patent O M CONED YARN SUPPORT .Edwin G. Beier,.Gary,rInd.

Application April 21, 1951, Serial No. 222,268

Claims. (Cl. 242-130) This invention relates to yarn support devices and more .particularly to a novel device for supporting cones, bobbins, or cops of yarn undergoing unwinding.

Manufacturers yof yarn for use on knitting machines or the .like ordinarily wind the yarn Ion cones, bobbins, cops or similar holders. In the case of lso-challed coned yarn, the yarn is generally wound on a stiff paper or cardboard cone. In some cases the yarn is wound on the cone in a substantial uniform manner so that the final cone of yarn has flat annular end portions with the opposite ends yof the cardboard cone extending sllghtly beyond the 4respective flat ends of the wound yarn. However, 'it is also common practice to Wind the yarn on the c'o'ne in :such a ymanner `las .to form tapered or rounded end portions .at .the opposite ends of the Wound yarn. This 'type of coned yarn is .commonly referred to in the arttas a ipineapplewcone During the .tmaking of textile fabrics such as .hosiery or the llike the .ooned yarn .is supported with its axis vertical :and is Aunwound to the Vknitting machinery .during operation of the latter. The devices ordinarily .employed for supporting the coned yarn #customarily vinclude .a spindle adapted .to `extend through the cardboard cone and fa base support against which the bottom-of vthe cone rests.

fDuring -unwinding `of the lyarn Ifrom its cardboard cone, considerable difculty is Aoften encountered .due 1to .entanglement --or fsnaggiug -of the zunwinding ythread of yarn withpthe mass of yarn still on vthe cone. As mentioned above, theends offthe cardboard cone ordinarily .protrude beyond the fconed yarn -itself and-as atresul-t there is usually an'open-space bel-ow the rshoulder or lower .end of the `coned yarn. Consequently, :during lunwinding of thefyarn fit is ya Ifrequentoccurrence that the unwinding threadlbecomes caughtor snagged in -this open space benea-thithe `shoulder formed by the Vlower end of thetconed yarn. This diflicul-ty is of course more pronounced 1in the 'case of `acone `wherein the coned yarn vhas 'atends but 'the dii-culty xislalso encountered to an objectionable degree=eveninftheicaseofa pineapplcone or thelike wherein thecnd portionsof the coned yarn varetapered o'r'vfrounded. The'actual end shape of theiconed ,yarnof course varies with different yarn manufacturers but the snagging problem is always present.

fIn 'IadditiOn, it has 'also lbeen found thatafter a substantial amountfof .yarn has been unwound'from the cone, the Iremainingyarn .often tends to sink or slip toward the fbaseo'f fthefcone and 'frequently becomes entangled. lnany case, there is a m'arkeditendency for the normal orderely .unwinding ofthe yarn from the cone to be disturbed, 'and this in turnadversely alects the operation ofi the: knitting machine.

Although .some devices have been proposed in the priorrart for overcoming the'aforementioned diiculties, suchrprop-osed :solutions have not been entirely-satisfactory :because .the suggested supporting devices have not been adapted .for .use with pineapple cones Aor other similar .types .offconedlyarn -wherein the end. portions of the yarn are not flat. In addition, the yarn support devices heretoforeproposed for meeting these difficulties, havetbeen relatively expensive and arefnot capable of f.assembly=and disassemblyin arapid and convenient manner.

.-Aocordingly, a Vprimaryobject of my invention is to providel novel supporting means for a cone of yarnwhereby vthe :yarn isper-mitted -to=unwind vwithoutdanger .of entanglement orzsnagging.

2,696,952 Patented Dem, 14,; 1954 ICC Another object of the invention is to provide a novel `coned verh support which is adapted to prevent enten ment or snagging of the unwinding ve ,and at the e. time is Simple in construction, inexpensive ,to manutan ture, and easy to assemble and disassemble.

A further object of the invention is to Provide a. eoned yarn support including novel means .for resilientlv enclosing n portion of the coned yarn whereby to facilitate normal orderly url-winding of the yarn.

An additional object of the invention is to. Provide a eoned yarn support capable of use with yarn .cones of varying shape and adapted particularly for use with pineapple cones or the like having a tapered or rounded bottom end conguration o f the yarn.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be.- come evident from the subsequent detailed -description taken in conjunction with the accompanying `drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional view .of an .assembled coned yarn support comprising one embodiment of my invention and showing in .eleva-tion Aa cone of yarn in piace on the support;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of lthe assembled support per se;

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view taken :along the line 3-3 of Fig.`2-; ,and

Figs. 4 to 6 are a series of vertical sectional views showing .the manner `of assembling and interltting the several elements comprising thefsupport.

Brieily, the -coned yarn support constituting my invent tion comprises .a cylindrical frame having a .section .of resilient or elastic material mounted thereon in such a manner as to define a generally tapered or flaring enclosure extending axially of the frame and Iadapted to receive yand enclose the base .end of acone of yarn. As will hereinafter appear, .I prefer to utilize a .length .of tubular 'knitted material whereby to impart a Vbell-shaped curvature to the enclosure, and also provide ynovel retaining means c-oacting with the frame for detachably securing the ends of the tubula-r knitted material thereon.

:Referring now to the drawing, particularly Figs, il to 3, the coned yarn supporting vdevice .illustrated .therein :by way of `example comprises a rigid cylindrical frame or upstanding ring 11 zhaving aresilient or elastic material, indicated generally .at 12 detachably secured thereto fin the manner hereinafter described. 'For securing the resilientfor elastic material 12 to the frame .'11,:I provide a pair ofsuperimposed disks 13 and 14 adapted to Vbe inserted and frictionally retained in `an lendvvise axially extending recess or counterbore 16 ,disposed circumferentially laround fthe frame -11-at the -bottoml-end thereof. The lower y.disk ltl'hasa central ,aperture :17 Ifor receiving `a suitable spindle (not lsho,wn),and;the super-imposed upper ,disk 13 is provided with 1a substantially largercen- `tral kopening 18 disposed vconcentrically ,with respect to the aperture :17inthe1lower disk 14.

.The resilient or `elastic y mate-rival 12 is preferably in tubular form as best s eenat 19 inFig. l.4. The length-of tubulargresilielnt material .-19 extends throughrthe enlarged aperture v18 inthe disk 13 with the yupper end of the tubular material being .stretched upwardly andfoutwardly over the upperfannular edge of the frame 1:1 and-thence downwardly -around the outside .of the flame, as ,indicated at 21. -This lendportion-.thence extends inwardly under the lower annular edge of the frame 1g1, upwardly to a slight extent withinthe counterbore-16, andthence radiallyand inwardly,.as indicatedat 522, in between-the disks 13 and A1.4. The lowercndportionof thetubular material v,19 is .stretched radially outwardly :beneath -the adjacent wall of the counterbore 16. Similarly, the upper end portion 22 of the tubular material 19 is firmly retained by being wedged between the peripheral edge of the disk 14 and the adjacent wall of the counterbore 16. In addition, the end portion 22 of the tubular material is also secured by being sandwiched between the flat inner surfaces of the disks 13 and 14. It will be understood that the diameters of the disks 13 and 14 are such as to provide a firm frictional fit in the counterbore 16 with the tubular material being retained in place in the manner described and illustrated. It will also be seen that the axial location of the disks 13 and 14. relative to the frame 11 is limited by means of a shoulder portion 24 constituting the upper axial end of the counterbore 16 and against which the upper disk 13 abuts with the tubular material jammed therebetween.

Although my invention broadly contemplates the use of any suitable resilient or elastic material, preferably tubular in form, I have found that conventional tubular knitted material is highly satisfactory for this purpose since it possesses the required degree of resiliency or elasticity and at the same time is readily obtainable at slight cost. As seen in Fig. 3, the assembled supporting device using tubular knitted material thus provides a generally bell-shaped enclosure formed from a tightly stretched knitted fabric, the walls of the bell-shaped enclosure curving upwardly and outwardly from its lower end portion of restricted diameter at the aperture 18 to the upper end portion of enlarged diameter at the top of the frame 11. Due to the inherent nature of tubular knit, the material is stretchable radially or circumferentially to a marked degree but is only slightly stretchable in a longitudinal direction and it is therefore possible to stretch the upper end 22 of the tubular knit to the size of the frame 11 while the central portion of tubular knit, indicated at 26, is in relatively restricted or unstretched condition around the opening 18 in the disk 13. Because of this non-uniform or non-symmetrical condition of stretching, the outwardly daring walls of the bell-shaped enclosure have a slightly bulged contour or convex curvature, as indicated at 27 (Fig. 2), which constitutes an important feature of my invention.

In Fig. 1 I have shown a pineapple yarn cone in place in the supporting device shown in Fig. 3. The cone of yarn comprises a cardboard cone 28 having yarn 29 wound thereon with the ends of the cone 28 protruding beyond the wound yarn, as indicated at 31 and 32. In addition, the yarn is so wound on the cone 28 that the upper and lower end portions of the yarn are tapered or rounded as shown at 33 and 34, respectively.

\/Vhen the coned yarn is inserted in the support, the lower end or base 32 of the cone 23 extends through the aperture 18 in the disk 13 and seats against the Hat inner surface of the disk 14. The lower rounded end or shoulder 34 of the wound yarn thus presses into the bellshaped enclosure provided by the tubular knit and distorts the knitted material so that the latter closely hugs and surrounds the lower end of the mass of coned yarn, as indicated at 36 in Fig. l. It will be evident that the convex or outward curvature 27 of the tubular knit insures close resilient contact of the knitted material with the lower end 34 of the coned yarn. In this manner, my device is capable of satisfactory operation with coned yarn having a wide variety of bottom end configurations.

With the tubular knit in close fitting resilient engagement with the lower end 34 of the coned yarn, it will readily be seen that there is no possibility that a ballooning unwinding thread of yarn will slip down below the shoulder at the lower end of the wound yarn and thereby becoming snagged. in other words, the hugging action of the tubular knit around the tapered or rounded end portion of the yarn prevents a thread of yarn from falling or slipping by its own weight into snagging position. However, because of the resilient or elastic fit of the tubular knit around the end of the wound yarn, there is no interference with the normal unwinding of the yarn from the lower end of the cone since the thread is easily pulled out by the normal unwinding action from between the deflected portion 36 of the knitted fabric and the adjacent end portions 34 of the coned yarn. in addition, it will be seen that even if a number of turns of yarn tend to sink or slip downwardly on the cone, they will not be able to slip into entangled condition below the lower shoulder on the cone of yarn.

Another important feature of my device resides in the fact that the knitted fabric tends to assume the normally curved or outwardly bowed configuration, as seen as 27, so that even when this portion of the tubular knit is deflected inwardly, as in Fig. l, the fabric is still urged by its inherent resiliency to the outwardly curved shape 27. Consequently, as the size or diameter of the coned yarn diminishes during unwinding thereof, the deflected portion 36 of the tubular knit continually moves inwardly in close conformation with the lower end 34 of the yarn. Thus, the beneficial effects of my supporting device in preventing entanglement and snagging are obtained during substantially the entire unwinding of the yarn from the cone,

The arrangement of superimposed disks for receiving the base end 32 of the cone 28 also has an important advantage in that it permits automatic centering or positioning of the cone relative to the knitting machine spindle. Inasmuch as the opening 13 is concentric with the spindle aperture 17, it will be seen that the periphery of the opening 18 coacts with and retains the base 32 of the cardboard cone 23 in centered relation at all times thereby eliminating the need for special gripping devices or centering mechanisms on the knitting machine spindle.

In Figs. 4 to 6, I have shown the manner in which my supporting device may be easily and quickly assembled. In Fig. 4 the first step in the assembly is shown with the tubular knit being inserted through the aperture 18 in the disk 13. The lower end 23 of the tubular knit is turned outwardly in the direction indicated by the arrows and is eventually doubled back over the upper surfaces of the disk 13 as shown by the dotted lines in Fig. 4. The next step in the assembly is shown in Fig. 5 wherein the disk 13 with the lower end 23 of the tubular knit folded therearound is inserted into the groove 16 at the lower end of the frame lill. The upper end 22 of the tubular knit 19 is then turned downwardly around the outside of the frame 11 as indicated by the arrows into the position shown in full lines in Fig. 6. At this point the lower end 22 is then folded inwardly beneath the frame 11 to the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 6. Upon insertion of the lower disk 14 against the folded end 22 of the tubular knit the latter is then fmally clamped or wedged in the manner hereinbefore described and the completely assembled article shown in Fig. 3 is thereby obtained.

It will thus be seen that my invention provides a coned yarn support having a very simple construction utilizing inexpensive and readily available materials and may be rapidly assembled or disassembled. Moreover, the device is inherently capable of satisfactory operation with yarn cones having a wide variety of bottom configurations so that the normal orderly unwinding of the yarn is not disturbed.

Although the invention has been described with reference to a particular structural embodiment it will be understood that various modifications and equivalent structures may be resorted to without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

l. A support for a cone of yarn comprising an upstanding ring having a counterbore at one end thereof, a disk member frictionally fitted at the bottom of said ring within said counterbore and being provided with a central opening, a iength of tubular resilient material disposed axially through said ring, one end portion of said tubular material extending through the openings in said disk and being folded completely around the outer periphery thereof, said tubular material 'thence extending upwardly from said opening and outwardly over the upper annular edge of said ring, and the other end portion of said tubular material being folded downwardly around the outside of said ring, and means for securing said other end portion of the tubular material adjacent the bottom of said ring.

2. A support for a cone of yarn comprising an upstanding ring having a counterbore at one end thereof, an upper disk member frictionally fitted at the bottom of said ring within said counterbore, said upper disk member being provided with a central opening, a length of tubular resilient material disposed axially through said ring, one end portion of said tubular material extending through the opening in said upper disk and being folded around the peripheral edge thereof and inwardly toward J said opening whereby said one end portion is held in place by frictional retention between the peripheral edge of said upper disk and the adjacent wall of said counterbore, said tubular material thence extending upwardly from said opening and outwardly over the upper annular edge of said ring, and the other end portion of said tubular material being folded downwardly around the outside of said ring and thence inwardly below the bottom of said ring, and a lower disk member frictionally tted within said counterbore adjacent said upper disk with said other end portion of said tubular material being held by frictional retention between said disk members and between the peripheral edge of said lower disk and the adjacent wall of said counterbore.

3. A support for a cone of yarn comprising an upstanding ring having a counterbore at one end thereof, a pair of superimposed upper and lower disks frictionally fitted at the bottom of said ring within said counterbore, said lower disk having a central aperture for receiving a spindle and said upper disk having a larger central opening adapted to receive the protruding base end of a yarn cone, the yarn cone thereby being supported at its lower end by said lower disk and being retained in centered relation with respect to the spindle by the periphery of said opening in said upper disk, and a length of tubular resilient material having its opposite end portions secured on said ring by frictional retention between said disks and the wall of said counterbore, and the central portion of said tubular material extending in taut condition upwardly from said opening and outwardly over the upper annular edge of said ring whereby to deiine a tapered resilient enclosure adapted to receive and engage the lower portion of the wound yarn on said cone.

4. A support for a cone of yarn comprising an upstanding ring, a pair of superimposed upper and lower disks frictionally tted at the bottom of said ring, said upper disk having a central opening, and a length of tubular resilient material having its opposite end portions secured on said ring by frictional retention between said 6 disks and said ring, the central portion of said tubular material extending in taut condition upwardly from said opening and outwardly over the upper annular edge of said ring whereby to define a tapered resilient enclosure adapted to receive and engage the lower portion of a yarn cone.

5. A support for a cone of yarn comprising an upstanding ring, disk means including a pair of superimposed upper and lower disks detachably secured at one end of said ring, said lower disk having a central aperture for receiving a spindle and said upper disk having a larger central opening adapted to receive the protruding base end of a yarn cone, the yarn cone thereby being supported at its lower end by said lower disk and being retained in centered relation with respect to the spindle by the periphery of said central opening in said upper disk, and a length of tubular resilient material having its central portion extending axially through said opening and upwardly and outwardly over the upper annular edge of said ring, the opposite end portions of said tubular material being frictionally secured to said ring by said disk means.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,169,539 Houck Jan. 25, 1916 1,353,960 Houck Sept. 28, 1920 1,759,392 De Wolf May 20, 1930 1,860,938 McKean May 31, 1932 1,984,571 Epps Dec. 18, 1934 2,241,260 Herr May 6, 1941 2,523,502 Dewas Sept. 26, 1941 2,580,129 Rich Dec. 25, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 463,120 Great Britain Mar. 22, 1937 

